Kingdom Hearts Forever
by Chison
Summary: When Mareo comes in contact with an Organization member, everything changes. Ordinary life as Mareo knows is shattered His world becomes enveloped in Darkness, and is saved by the Keyblade. Now he must try and save as many worlds as he can...
1. No One

No One

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Opening his eyes slowly, a teenager found himself surrounded by darkness, with a single street lamp illuminating the eerie darkness around him. "Hello?" His voice echoed throughout the void, walking carefully towards the light, he suddenly turned around to see his shadow stretched out, "remember the closer you get to the light, the longer your shadow becomes." Hearing a voice he quickly ran under the street lamp, and watched in horror as his shadow grew and loomed over him, fearing for his life, he left the lamp, trying to escape the shadow, but he fell off the edge of the platform that he could not see in the darkness.

Falling, he let his eyes focus on the light radiating from the top of the platform, however it began to fade, leaving him alone with the darkness. "Hey Mareo wake up! Your not allowed to sleep on the job!" A loud voice came to him, waking Mareo out of his sleep, "What? Is it time to go home already?" The other boy shook his head, "man if I didn't look out for you, you would have been fired a long time ago…" Being fully awake, Mareo got up from the stool he was sleeping on, while rubbing his bottom, "man it really hurts after sitting so long…" Mareo had brown hair, along with dull blue eyes, he wore a black 'Quick-Fill' collared shirt, since it was required for work, and a pair of black pants. "I'm here to give you a break, so go get something to eat, or a drink…" the other boy said and perched on the stool, "thanks Zack." Mareo said as he walked out of the small, rectangular building, with glass making up half of the building, Zack had blonde hair and green eyes, and wore the same outfit as Mareo.

Wandering across the parking lot, Mareo came inside the convenience store, and stared looking around, "Hey Mareo what can I get you?" He simply shrugged his shoulders and took his time around the small mart, seeing the shelves stocked with various candy and potato chips. Picking up a bag of chips he wandered to the fountain drinks, and started to mix his own concoction of two different sodas, finally walking up the counter, the older woman behind the counter had black hair and dark eyes to match, and were dressed in the same uniform. "Is this all for you tonight?" Linda asked, and Mareo nodded and with the transaction complete, he started to walk out the door, but a sudden boom of thunder followed closely by a flash of lightning stopped him dead in his tracks. Linda looked on through the window, "we sure have been getting crazy weather for September…" Mareo looked back at her nodding, "yea…I wonder if it was in the forecast…"

Staying inside, Mareo looked on as the rain started to pour, making the ground seem more like a lake, with rain constantly breaking the surface. "I wonder how Zack is doing…It's a good thing we are working the graveyard shift, since hardly anyone comes in anyway…" Linda nodded, "you two are the most reliable people we have, well with the manager switch and all, you guys are the only ones who stayed to work outside…" Mareo turned to her with a smile on his face, "well someone has to pump people's gas right? Since it's the law that they can't…which is silly…" Linda narrowed her eyes, "but it's paying for your college right? And you get to do homework out there. Your killing two birds with one stone." Mareo simply nodded and turned his attention back to the storm outside.

Within moments, Zack was running across the parking lot, the automatic doors opened for him and he walked to Mareo, "Your half hour is up. Your turn to go play in the rain," he said with a smirk, and then walked to a door labeled "Employees Only" and opened it behind him, and let it shut on its own. "Ok…Time to get wet…" Mareo said to himself as he started running towards the small glass building, but something caught his attention from the corner of this right eye: it was a figure in black. Mareo came to a stop and simply starred at the personage, _"…Where have I seen that person before?"_ he questioned himself, and his mind raced to find the answer, _"I know! He is a member of Organization XIII! But…its not real…or is it?" _Mareo thought to himself as he continued to stare at the man, however he had turned and started walking away. Making up his mind, Mareo quickly dashed after the man in black, having the rain and water hinder him, he raced to the end of the parking lot only to find the man had vanished. "Who was that?" Mareo asked aloud, but a horn stopped his train of thought, he turned around to see a customer waiting at the pumps.

Finishing the transaction, Mareo slowly wandered into the glass building, and perched himself on the stool, and looked around again for the man. "Its no use…He's gone…" Mareo sighed, "Who's gone?" Zack's voice came from the open door, making Mareo jump, "GAH! Don't scare me like that…" Zack laughed, "Sorry…but what were you talking about?" Mareo shook his head, "well…I think you would laugh if I told you…" Zack folded his arms across his chest, "Nah, try me. I've heard some crazy stuff…" "Well…" Mareo started, "I saw this guy in a black coat and I know something about him…" Zack became interested, "like what?" Mareo starred out the window, "He is from Kingdom Hearts…" This forced a smile on Zack's face, which erupted into full laughter, "Listen…" Zack said, catching his breath, "I know you don't wanna hear it from me, but you play too many video games. Listen to yourself, you just said you saw someone from Kingdom Hearts, and I didn't see him, nor did Linda with the cameras outside…" Mareo still looked out the window, into the storm, "you mean…there was no one there?"

* * *

Remember my story I was going to write? Well this is the start, and I have most of it planned it my head, expect lots of cross overs from Video Games to Anime and maybe even some movies. 


	2. Truth

Zack walked away, leaving Mareo alone with his thoughts, _"there was no one there?"_ Mareo asked, looking back to the parking lot where he saw the personage, however there was no one. Having work drag on throughout the night, with customers coming every hour or so, and finally the morning sun started to break from the horizon. Quickly looking at this watch it told him the time 6:38, Mareo became excited, knowing that he was almost free from work. The workload picked up with the morning commute, people filling their tanks for the day, and everyone frantically rushing to work, however once it had slowed down at his watch, he saw the time: 7:58.

Having a grin on his face, Mareo started to wander inside, and waved to his co-worker coming on his shift for the day. Passing the automatic sliding doors, he made his way to the counter and to the cash register, and began his tedious paperwork, calculating money, gallons pumped and other factors and after he was finished, he left with a smile on his face and looked at the morning sun, "well…I have the rest of the day…" Mareo yawned aloud, and then started to wander to his car parked in another lot. "I should get some sleep before I have to come back tonight…" Mareo talked to himself as he slammed the door and fumbled for his keys and then started the car and started to drive home.

Arriving at his destination, he got out of the car and wandered to the front door of his apartment, and unlocked the door and let himself in. Closing the door behind him, he tossed both his wallet and keys onto the counter and noticed a red blinking light: someone had left him a message. Pressing the "play" button, the automated voice announced what time the call was made and the message played:

"Son…I know it was your decision to move out and live life on your own terms…but honestly…Can you survive between going to school full time and working full time? I hear you are barley making the rent from month to month…and your grades are slipping…I just want you to know that we are here for you…"

Mareo listened to his father's words, but they went in one ear and out the other. Walking away from the machine, he made his way down the hall and threw his work clothes into a black plastic hamper and grabbed the towel hanging from his door. "I know what I'm doing… Its really hard now…but I'm fine…" Mareo talked to himself and then smacked his forehead, "I gotta really stop talking to myself…" Stepping into the bathroom he turned on the shower and let the water get hot and then stepped in, _"I know my father is there for me…but I can't go back…not after what he did to Mom…"_ He thought to himself, his mind rewinding the scenario. Mareo's father had left the family, and was only now, 2 years later trying to mend everything, recalling that his mother wanted nothing to do with him, she left.

This pained Mareo, from his early childhood he remembered his parents and siblings being happy, and lively. Now it was mess. Shutting of the water after soaping down his body and washing his hair, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel and dried himself off wandering back into his room and he got dressed. Wearing a long sleeve blue shirt and a pair of white khaki pants he moved from his room and went into the kitchen, and opened the fridge, Mareo simply looked at the shelves, bare and without food, "looks like I need to go grocery shopping today…" he sighed as he shut the refrigerator door, and then grabbed his keys and wallet and walked outside, his eyes being temporarily blinded by the sun. Locking the door behind him, he made his way back to the car and got in, "oh…I should see what time I work tomorrow…" With that, he started the car and drove back to his work.

Parking close to the building, he wandered inside and gave clerk behind the counter a wave and went on his way finding the items he needed. Walking to the clerk with the items in hand and let him scan them, and then Mareo saw something. Turning his head left, he saw the same figure standing on the terrace of the gas station, and he raced outside, _"I'm not letting this chance pass me again!" _Mareo thought as he ran, and finally reached him. The figure in black slowly lowered his head, his hood had hidden his face, "Who are you? What do you want?" Mareo shouted to the stranger, however there was no response, "I know your from Kingdom Hearts…You're a member of the Organization! Tell me what you want!" he shouted, and the figure erupted in laughter, "well it seems you have hit the nail on the head, your right. I am a member of the Organization…but not the one you're thinking of." Mareo became confused, "what do you mean?" The man stretched out his hand, "you and I…we are not that different…" "I don't know what your planning…but I wont take part in it!" Mareo shouted, and the man laughed again, "you don't get it…Do you?" Suddenly Mareo's mind stopped. _"I've heard this guy's voice before…Who is it?" _he thought to himself, "I know you better than anyone…" the figure said raising his hands and removing his hood, "because I am you."

The brown hair, the dull blue eyes it was like looking a mirror for Mareo. "Who…Who are you?" he asked, but the duplicate shook his head, "no I should be asking you that question. I am the true self. You are part of my memory I need." Mareo took a step backwards, "I'm…" he began, but then shook his head, "NO! I am my own person, not some memory! I have my own emotions and memories! I HAVE A HEART!" Mareo shouted at the top of his lungs, but the figure simply watched, "there is not doubt about it…you are part of my memory…" With that, the figure vanished, leaving behind an echo of laughter…


	3. Darkness

Darkness

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Looking desperately for the mirror image, Mareo twisted his head, looking at various rooftops, however he realized he was long gone. Walking slowly towards his car, he took one last look before getting in, and starting on his way home, listening to the radio, he heard his favorite song play and hummed along with the tune, but slowly stopped. _"What did he mean…the true self? I am my own person…not some Nobody…"_ Mareo thought to himself as he drove trying to keep his attention to the road, but his mind wandered back to the scene that played out. Finally reaching his apartment, he turned off the car and wandered to his front door.

Slowly opening the door, he looked inside, expecting to find something out of the ordinary, but nothing. He sighed and shut the door behind him, "I wonder if that really happened…" Mareo talked to himself, looking at the mirror hanging in the hallway, "there is no way I can be a Nobody…Unless what he said was true…but then he would have been turned into a Heartless at some point…but they don't exist…right?" Mareo spoke aloud, trying to organize his thoughts, but it didn't work, and he wandered through the small apartment towards his bedroom, and flopped down on his bed. Quickly falling asleep, Mareo started to dream.

Falling through darkness, Mareo slowly opened his eyes, and took a moment to look around, _"darkness… I wonder if it will devour me…"_ he thought as he fell, however his body began to turn and twist, and he slowly landed on his feet. Looking around, he felt a shiver run up his spine and he looked to the brilliant stained-glass floor, showing a picture of himself along with the Organization member who looks exactly like him. "What's going on?" Mareo asked aloud, trying to get an answer, "There is a great journey ahead of you." A voice echoed throughout the darkness, making Mareo look around, "Take your time. Their will always be time, take it one step at a time." He wandered to the center of the floor, looking for the voice but found no one, "Hello?" Mareo shouted into the darkness, using his hands to make his voice travel further.

Suddenly, Mareo woke up, sitting right up, he slowly calmed himself down and looked at his hands, "Where…Where was I?" He asked himself as he slowly climbed off the bed and looked at the clock: 8:48. Scratching his head, Mareo wandered out of his room and into the kitchen, "that was a weird dream…I don't know if it was real or not…" going through the shelves, showing they had nothing, he opened the fridge only to be reminded to buy more groceries, since the racks were mostly empty. Finding some milk and macaroni and cheese, he made himself dinner and ate. Looking back at the time, it seemed to fly by, "man…I've got to get to work…" Mareo said to himself and got changed into his work outfit, and walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind him.

Traveling to work, Mareo thought about the mysterious person who had the same face as his, "Its crazy…there can't be two of me…" he said aloud to calm himself down, _"but what if there are?"_ he thought instantly, putting him on edge. Pulling into the parking lot, Mareo slowly got out of his car and wandered towards the main building. Waving to the person on duty, he made his way past the sliding doors, and to the attendants' counter. Filling out his time card, he grabbed a vest and wandered outside towards the smaller building outside, and perched on the stool. "…And begins another wonderful evening of being bored out of my mind…" Mareo spoke, starring off at the intersections, waiting for customers to come.

After two hours, Mareo started to sleep, trying desperately to keep himself awake; his head kept bobbing up and down between being asleep and awake. Bonking his head on the small counter, he rubbed his forehead, "man I know its dead sometimes…but not like this…" From the small building he wandered back into the store, and looked for the cashier behind the counter, "hello?" Mareo called out, but no one answered. Looking from side to side, he realized that there was no one in the store, quickly walking outside, he saw the parking lot empty, and no body driving to their destinations, "what…what's going on?" He asked himself and ran towards the small building.

"Something wrong?" A voice echoed, Mareo quickly turned around to see the same figure from before standing on a street lamp, "You seem troubled…" he added, "YOU! What are you doing?" Mareo ran from the stool to the figure, however he simply laughed, "What can you to about it? Nothing." Striking a cord, Mareo stopped, _"he's right…what can I do?"_ thinking to himself, the mirror image put a grin on his face, "I will save you if you come with me and complete my true self." Mareo narrowed his eyes, "no way. Its not going to happen." The figure put his hood back over his face and lifted his right hand, "it's a shame to loose part of my memory…" He snapped his fingers and multitudes of Heartless appeared, "Hear me Heartless! Devour this world and all those in it!" He lifted both of his hands as he shouted, then disappeared in a ellipse of darkness.

Mareo turned to see a giant Heartless form from his shadow and take form, being much taller than the street lamp, and having yellow eyes, he looked down at Mareo, who was scrambling, trying to stay near the lamppost. Darkness and Heartless of every shape and size started to flow from the shadow, slowly making their way around as far as Mareo could see, and suddenly the solid ground gave way under him; causing him to fall into Darkness…


	4. Everlasting Light

Everlasting Light

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"_What…what's going on?"_ Mareo thought to himself as the fell, his mind trying to grasp what had just happened. _"A Nobody has just destroyed my world…and now I'm in Darkness…" _Opening his eyes, Mareo could not see anything. There was no sound, no rushing wind through his clothes, or through his hair. Everything was silent. "If…If I'm going to be destroyed…I guess this is the most painless way…" He looked past his feet, but there was nothing, and then below him, "Just falling…" Falling through darkness for what seemed like hours, Mareo looked left, then right and still nothing, not even the faintest glimmer of light. Suddenly he started to right himself, and fell with his feet and landed on a hard, solid surface.

Quickly looking around, Mareo still saw nothing, even though his eyes had adjusted to the dark conditions. Taking a step forward, he put out his hands to guide himself, "I must look like a fool…Wandering through darkness with my hands out like this…" he spoke aloud, however he felt the edge of the platform and stopped and again looked around, and he saw something that caught his eye: it was a faint glimmer of light.

Running towards it, Mareo came to it and reached out with his right hand, however the platform underneath him gave way, and he started to fall, "NO! NOT WHEN THE LIGHT IS SO CLOSE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs and desperately reached for the light, the Darkness seemed to come alive and slowly wrapped around Mareo's feet, dragging him down. He struggled as the Darkness moved slowly up his legs, he bent his torso, trying to make his arm stretch further, but the Darkness had made his way towards his chest.

Feeling the muscles in his arm being stretched, Mareo winced in pain, but he continued to reach towards the light, and slightly after his elbow gave a loud pop, causing Mareo to cry out in pain, feeling the Darkness creep towards his head, he gave everything into one last thrust towards the light, screaming at the top of his lungs, he finally reached the light, and gasped it, becoming a beam in his hand, and the Darkness instantly dissolved. Holding the beam of light in front of him, it slowly faded, revealing an elongated key, which he recognized instantly. "It's a Keyblade…" he said to himself, fascinated at the weapon and he held up high above his head. "Good job. I was starting to worry." A male voice came over the air, and Mareo turned to see whom it was.

A teenage boy with spiky brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in black and various yellow straps and two red bags on his legs started to walk towards Mareo. "Are you?" Mareo started and the boy stopped, "Yes. I'm Sora. You're really lucky the Keyblade came when it did. You would have been a goner." Mareo walked towards Sora and held out his left free hand, "I'm Mareo…wait." He stopped, "does this mean…that I'm the Keyblade master now?" Sora gave a laugh, "well not quite…you've got to prove to the Keyblade that you are the right guy for the job." Mareo looked to the floor then back to Sora, "you mean…like seal a world and stuff?" He simply nodded, and lifted his hand and pointed to something behind Mareo.

Turning to see, a massive, wooden door had appeared, and when Mareo turned back to Sora, he was gone. "Don't worry. You can take your time. You have all the time you need." A voice came over the darkness, calming Mareo. "There are many worlds, take everything one step at a time. Don't stop walking." Walking up to the door, Mareo placed his hands on the handle, "This will be your journey. This will lead you to the answers you seek, all you have to do is go through the door." Swallowing the lump in his throat, and pulled the doors apart, letting light flood throughout the darkness, Walking straight through Mareo lifted the Keyblade to block the light and used his left hand to feel around through the light. Feeling a handle with his other hand, he gently turned the handle and suddenly felt a gust of wind and sound, and passed through the doorway.

Looking around, Mareo saw towering stonewalls and people going about their daily lives, however as he looked closer, they had elongated ears. Walking from the doorway, he turned around, however it simply looked like an ordinary wooden door, "Where am I?" he asked himself out loud and started to wander through the city. However he stopped and looked at this right hand: his Keyblade was missing.


	5. The First World

The First World

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"Wha…Where is my Keyblade?" Mareo asked himself and looked on his person for the weapon, and saw a young man carrying away his weapon, "Hey! Wait!" Mareo shouted after the boy, however he turned and ran, with Mareo giving chase. Following the youngster through the city, he finally started to slow down at the sight of a young man wearing armor depicting a crest of two lions on a shield being black and red. "Furosha, what are you doing here?" the man asked bending down to one knee to help the lad, "Help, this stranger is following me!" Mareo slowed his pace, "no…that…boy took something of mine!" The knight looked down at Furosha and noticed the large key in his hand, "Furosha…where did you get this?" The boy looked away sheepishly, "it was on the ground when I found it… its mine." Mareo took another step forward, "how can I prove to you the weapon is mine?" _"Wait! I know exactly how to prove its mine!" _Mareo thought to himself and then looked to the knight, "I can put the weapon directly into my hands without touching it." The knight looked down to Furosha, then to Mareo, "fine. If you can perform such a feat, then the weapon belongs to you, it will rest in front of me, and you two must be three arm lengths away from it."

Moving the approximate distance, Mareo simply reached for the keyblade with his right hand, and the key disappeared from the knight and into his hand. "What you say is true…" then he turned to Furosha, however he had already ran away, "you have to forgive Furosha, sometimes he takes things that don't belong to him…I believe he is an orphan..." Mareo sighed, "Oh…by the way…what is this place?" The knight looked at Mareo with a stare, "You are in the glorious Kingdom of San d'Oria." The knight pointed in front of him, "You are at the Ranperre gate, if you follow the road, you will come to the parade grounds, and the kings' castle the famed Chateau d'Oranguille."

Walking away from the knight, Mareo followed the path that was given to him by the knight. Looking at the various shops, people gave Mareo strange looks as they passed by, he stopped for a moment and wondered aloud, "why is everyone looking at me strangely?" looking down, he realized he was still wearing his Quick-Fill uniform, _"oh…that's why…"_ he thought to himself, and he continued down the passage way, a moat was to his left, Mareo passed under a archway and came to a massively open court, with a fountain and various buildings surrounding the area. Looking to his left, he saw a magnificent castle the knight was talking about, it seemed to reach for the sky, with various watchtowers and with a drawbridge.

Mareo walked towards the castle, "HOLD! What business do you have in the Chateau d'Oranguille?" the guard at gate shouted, raising his hand, "I need to see the kings…I have important business!" Mareo said, however the guard shook his head, "well do you have a ranking within our country?" This stopped Mareo cold, "ranking?" He repeated, and the guard shook his head, "listen to me well, young one ranking is how widely known you are throughout the Kingdom of San d'Oria, if you have gone on missions, then your rank improves, otherwise I cannot let you in." With that, the guard shooed Mareo away, "now be gone, I have other business to attend to…" He started slowly walking along the moat, and noticed another massive building to his right. With high steeples, he slowly walked towards it, "I wonder what this building is…" when he crossed the bridge and opened the doors, he found that everyone inside was wearing white, "this must be a cathedral…" he said to himself and took a few more paces inside, "hello young man, welcome to the cathedral dedicated to the Goddess Altana, how can we assist you?" Mareo looked around for a moment, various scrolls hung from the ceiling, and light poured in from the high windows, "I…Its kind of hard to explain…" Mareo started, the priest raised a brow, "have you come seeking forgiveness for a sin?" He shook his head, "NO! No, its not that…well…I guess its best if I just show you…" with that, Mareo raised his right hand, and a beam of light formed in his hand and solidified into his Keyblade.

The priest took a few steps backwards, fear had overtaken him, "the…the cursed key of legend!" He madly looked around the room and ran past Mareo shouting, "Temple Knights, The ancient legend of the key has come true! Assemble at once!" Within moments, multitudes of armored knights dressed in white surrounded Mareo, "I don't want to fight you…" Mareo whispered to himself, however just as he was about to charge the men, he felt a strong blow from behind, and fell to the floor falling into unconsciousness…

* * *

OK! bows deeply THANK YOU everyone, for sticking with the stories that I write. It really means alot to me that people care enough to read my stories. Yea...this is my story and I always had plans to make it cross-over into everything...and if you still dont know where all this location stuff is, then I will tell you: its from Final Fantasy XI. Yep, the online one, this story will cross-over into alot of other areas, like into video games and Anime too, so keep on the lookout for more chappies! Thanks again! 


	6. Prophecy

Prophecy

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"Wake up." A low voice chimed in Mareo's ear, he slowly stirred and opened his eyes, seeing two figures sitting on a pair of thrones, one was wearing white armor while the other was clad in black armor, however they seemed to be bickering. "Trion. You have no right to attack someone simply because they have different clothing…" One said, looking to his left, "Pieuje, you must understand that his man is a threat, not just to the Kingdom of San d'Oria, but to the entire world of Vana'diel!" Mareo slowly got to his feet and looked at the two of them, which stopped the arguing, "tell us your name…" Pieuje said, "My name is Mareo…" Trion smirked, "for someone to destroy this world…you sure don't look like it…" Pieuje immediately turned to him, "Brother! All we know is his name; we don't even know where he is from! Control your tongue!" Suddenly Trion rose from his throne and walked down to Mareo, "I know you bear a key, the priest at the cathedral told me…show us."

He looked at Trion for a moment then back to Pieuje, who had his head in his right hand, rubbing his temples. Mareo looked at the ground for a moment and then raised his right hand, and a beam of light shone and solidified into the keyblade. With this, Trion took a step backwards, "so it is true…" he whispered to himself and wandered back to his throne, however Pieuje was absolutely stunned by the feat. "Mareo…what do you call this wondrous weapon?" "It's called a keyblade, it can undo any lock…" he said, swinging the weapon onto his shoulder, "where are you from, Mareo?" Trion finally asked, looking at him, "well…" Mareo started, "I came from a different world. It was much different than this…" Trion's eyes widened, "a different world?" Mareo nodded, Pieuje moved forward on his throne, "tell us…what was it like?" He looked up at the stone ceiling, "It was nice…the skies were blue, there was lots of people…" however he was interrupted by Trion who had gotten off his throne, "The prophecy has come true!"

Everyone stopped to look at Trion, Pieuje was the first to break the silence, "Brother…what on Vana'diel are you talking about?" Looking towards Mareo, Trion pointed his finger, "You claim you have come from a world different than our own…" he said, walking away from this throne and into the light from the stained glass window high up on the wall. "it is exactly as the Goddess Altana explained to the ancient Elvaan…" holding his head towards the glass, "Before our world of Vana'diel, there existed many other planets in the heavens created by the Goddess, and for a time everything was in harmony. But on one of her beloved worlds, a mysterious Key had appeared, along with its wielder who came from anther world; he wrought destruction and chaos with the Key and eventually destroyed her world.

"This…act caused the Goddess Altana so much sorrow and grief that she created another world, and created five races of people, and she told of the Ancients this prophecy: that if any being with a Key should appear, that being must be destroyed for sake of the entire world." Pieuje stood from his throne, "brother…you certainly cannot be thinking of killing this man simply because of his Keyblade!" "SILENCE PIEUJE!" Trion shouted, turning to him, "this prophecy has been passed down from King to Prince ever since the Kingdom of San d'Oria was founded! Do not mock the Goddess Altana's words in front of a Temple Knight!" Pieuje started to say something, but kept his mouth shut and looked at Mareo. Trion slowly walked towards his throne, and looked over Mareo, "your execution will take place tomorrow at dawn." He said, waving his hands, shooing him away, but suddenly someone burst through the doors, "Majesties! Black creatures have made their way to the Chateau d'Oranguille!" Both princes got to their feet, "what? No enemy has ever breached our walls! Are they Orcs?" Trion asked, but the guard shook his head, "no…they are not Orcs at all…they fall to the ground like shadows and reappear again…" Mareo's eyes widened, _"those are Heartless! They must be after me!"_ He turned to the pair of royals, "I know what those creatures are!" however something caught his eye to his left, it was a shadow Heartless, "Watch out!" Mareo shouted, causing both of them to look at the creature leaping in the air after them.

Rather than attacking the princes, the Heartless flew backwards, smashing into a wall and disappearing a heap of black smoke. Pieuje smiled, "its always comforting to know you are around Alana." Suddenly a silhouette of a person appeared, then it materialized into a woman, having short, white hair and a pair of brown eyes, wearing various plates of armor made from dark leather. She kneeled before the princes, "Forgive me, I almost let those creatures attack you…" Pieuje smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, "its all right. If you hadn't attacked when you did, I believe Mareo would have stepped in." looking to him, "right?" Everyone was surprised at Pieuje's words and turned to Mareo, who nodded, "yes, since I have the power to fight, I would have stopped them…" Trion narrowed his eyes, "you said you know what these creatures are?" Mareo looked to the prince, "yes. They are called Heartless, they are the darkness in beings hearts manifested in physical form…they are the ones who attacked my world."

* * *

GAH! I didnt realize how hard it is to mesh two legends together...XD but I think I did it to the best of my abilities...so enjoy! 


	7. Decision

Decision

A KH Fanfic

By:

Chison

"Darkness in people's hearts?" Pieuje repeated to himself, and put a hand on his chin in thought, "would that include the Beastmen as well?" he questioned, and Mareo nodded his head, "Yea, the Heartless thrive where there is darkness…" Suddenly, Pieuje leaned forward on his throne, "tell me Mareo, could the Heartless affect land?" this comment made Trion turn to his brother, and waited for an answer from Mareo, who put a hand on his chin in thought, "Yes… they can, they are always searching for hearts and worlds have hearts too."

Slowly Trion leaned closer to Pieuje, "brother…do you believe these Heartless are responsible for the Emptiness?" He nodded his head, then he got to his feet and placed a hand on Alana's shoulder, "Alana…" he started, "will you assist Mareo to the Emptiness? I think these Heartless that Mareo speaks of are trying to destroy this world." Suddenly, everyone's eyes shot to Pieuje, "your majesty…" Alana started to speak, but Trion stood from his throne, "I support Pieuje's decision, we must try and stop the Emptiness from devouring all of Vana'diel."

Looking over Mareo, Trion spoke again, "if you are going to journey under the banner of San d'Oria, I suggest different clothing…" this caused Mareo to look down at his clothes, realizing that he was still wearing his Quick-fill work uniform, and he weakly laughed at himself, "I was attacked by the Heartless at work…" Pieuje nodded, "its all right…" he found a sheet of paper and wrote on it, folding it in half when he was done, "show this to the Tanner's guild, she will accept it." Mareo nodded, taking the note, while Alana was already at the door waiting for him, "I will pray for your safe return…" Trion said as the duo walked out of the castle, with Alana leading the way, with Mareo following behind her.

"Uh…" Mareo started, but he did not say anything else, they walked under a massive archway, and turned right, slowly making their way to the Tanner's guild. Alana stopped in front of the building where the guild was and wandered inside. Following her inside, Mareo saw a workbench was to his left, in another room, while a counter was right in front of him, and his right was a pair of stairs. "Hello?" Alana called, trying to get someone from the guild, "oh uh…" Mareo started again, "how were you invisible?" This caught Alana off guard, she opened her mouth to speak, she heard the clerk came down from the stairs. "Oh! Alana! It's been a while since you came in!" a female voice chimed.

Mareo's mouth dropped instantly, he was completely stunned at the woman who had made her way behind the counter. "What wrrrong with yourrr frrriend?" The woman asked Alana, who turned to see Mareo zoned out. "I don't know…" then it suddenly came to her, "I know what it is…he has never seen a Mithra before…" All he could respond with was a simple nod. The woman had a pair of elongated, furry ears, brown hair complementing her brown eyes. However the thing that really caught Mareo's attention was her tail, waving back and fourth. "Here Hanaa Punaa, here is an order from Prince Pieuje, could you help us?" Hanna looked the note over, nodding while she was reading, "surrre, I can help you, but you'll need to knock some sense into your frrriend therrre." Pointing to Mareo. Alana turned back to him, made a fist, and tapped his temple, "ow!" he said, rubbing the spot, "what was that for?" she looked him straight in the eye, "listen, Hanna Punaa is going to make some clothes for you." He nodded, Hanna moved into the room to the left, motioning Mareo to follow her.

Following her, she turned right, and moved towards the door, opening it Mareo walked through, finding a raised platform, "go ahead and stand therrre." Hanna's rolling of her R's sent chills through Mareo and he did as he was told, climbing on the platform. She started wandering around the room, gathering various tape measures and pins, "all rrright I need you to hold still, got it?" He nodded and she began measuring; first the legs, then his waist, next was the chest, then his shoulders and finally his arms. Hanna put a hand on her chin in thought, "well…what do you like to wearrr otherrr than what you've got on now?" Mareo shrugged his shoulders; "I don't know…its different now since I'm going to be battling Heartless…"

Hanna had wandered around the room, listening to Mareo, pulling various clothing from the drawers scattered around the room. "So something with protection, but flexiable to move in rrright?" He nodded, and a smile came across Hanna's face, holding up a piece of white leather. "I think I have the perrrfect outfit forrr you…" She wandered to another drawer, opening it, shifting through the contents, and then pulled out some clothes. "Herrre put these on." Hanna said, pointing to the door, "when you arrre done, knock on the doorrr." She shut the door behind her, giving Mareo some privacy.

"This world is kinda strange…but I could get used to it…" Mareo spoke aloud, and quickly changed into the other clothes, and jumped down from the platform, and knocked on the door, causing Hanna to open it, and a smile broke across her face. "I thought those would suit you nicely…" Mareo's outfit had changed from the Quick-fill uniform; into a thick, black, short-sleeved sweater with a blue leather vest and a set of white gloves with a yellow stripe. The pants were also white, however they had a blue stripe instead of yellow, "those belonged to my best friend, who got me involved in Tanning in the first place." "Wha?" Mareo started, "I can't wear this…its yours…" she shook her head, "I always have the memorrry of my frrriend to carrry with me, I feel betterrr knowing those clothes arrre put to good use, rrrather than sitting in that drawerrr."

Mareo smiled, "thank you Hanna," she shook her head, "it's the least I can to aid San d'Orrria." They moved from the room back to Alana, who was surprised, "wow…Hanna…you've outdone your self again!" Hanna blushed, "oh Alana, you give me too much crrredit." Alana had wandered around Mareo, taking the sight in, "all right, are you ready to go?" he nodded, and they made their way to the door, Alana stopped, and turned and waved to Hanna, "thanks again Hanna!" she said, and she joined up with Mareo. They had begun to walk down the street again, "all right…how do we get to the Emptiness?" Mareo questioned, Alana thought for a moment, and then turned to him, "we have to get to Juneo, the world's greatest scientists are gathered there to answer the question of the Emptiness…"

* * *

Okie dokie...for everyone who dosent know, Mithra are a race of cat-girls in FFXI, and are playable characters, and all the NPC versions all roll their Rs, so I took that into account, I had a temporary Writer's Block, just trying to get out of the castle was a challenge, I dont know why, but expect lots of chappies some time in the near future! 


	8. Towards Jeuno

Towards Jeuno

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

The pair traveled north, back towards the castle, "wait…" Mareo asked, "why are we walking back towards there?" Alena shook her head, "we are not going to travel to Juneo on foot, we are taking an airship, and it's in the San d'Orian port." "Oh…" Mareo said aloud as they walked, back through the alleyway where Mareo had first entered this world, "this place is a lot bigger than I thought…" he said to himself, taking in all the sights of the people making their living and going about their daily lives, they descended the wooden stairs and followed the mass of people through the small archway, "here," Alena spoke, reaching for his right hand, so that he wouldn't get lost in the stream of people, he took it as though he were a small child, and simply looked at all the different variations of people, some were Mithra like Hanna, most of them however, looked like Alena, with elongated ears.

"Ouch…" Mareo stopped, pulling his hand out of Alena's she too stopped, "what's wrong Mareo?" He held his hand, it had turned red and was throbbing, "my hand…you kind of squeezed it hard…" she took a step beside to examine his hand, and she rested her hand on top of it, "sorry, sometimes I don't know my own strength…" with that, they started making their way down the steps, and finally the archway opened up, revealing a balcony, showcasing the various boats and airships that were stationed there. "wow…" Mareo was left breathless as he followed Alena down another set of stairs and towards one of the ships, "Come on Mareo!" Alena waved, catching his attention from the sights around him, he quickly ran towards her, "…we are traveling on official San d'Orian orders from the princes themselves." She said the guard at the gate, but he put a hand of Mareo's shoulder, "what do you think you're doing?" the man asked, Mareo turned to him, "uh… I am with Alena…" he looked from him to Alena and nodded her head, "he is with me on official business." She said sternly, and the man let go, a scowl on his face, watching Mareo, "next time, please stick close so that doesn't happen." Alena rolled her eyes as they made their way down the small bridge towards the airship.

Walking on board, Mareo looked around, "uh…where are the seats?" he asked slightly confused, Alena smiled and motioned him to follow her and she lead Mareo up a small flight of stairs, then pointed to a faint mountain in the distance, "see that?" she asked, he simply nodded his head, "that is our destination, Jeuno." Mareo got excited, "really!?" Alena simply nodded her head, "attention passengers. We are now departing for the Grand Duchy of Jeuno, please make sure you have all your belongings." A male voice was heard over various voice tubes, just then a low rumbling came from the ship, and it started to vibrate, "Alena! What's going on?" Mareo shouted over the sound, but she simply leaned against the railing, "we are taking off!" she shouted, and within a moment, a blast of cool air rushed past Mareo, whipping through his hair.

The vibration stopped, and he looked to his left, seeing the kingdom of San d'Oria get smaller in the distance, "we…we're really flying!" Mareo shouted over the rushing wind, looking to the massive propellers whirling above, he was amazed, "flying was never like this on my world!" he shouted, but he noticed the noise had diminished and only a low hum of the engines could be heard, "tell me Mareo…what is—was your world like?" Alena asked with curiosity in her eyes, "well…" he started, "its a lot different than this world… there are only people like me there…and we don't have these airships, and we have cars." Alena held up her hand, "what are these…cars?" Mareo quickly thought up of a good analogy, "uh…like a horse-less carriage." She was confused, "a horse…is a mountable beast? Like a Chocobo?" He nodded, "right…but I don't know what a Chocobo even is…" Alena laughed, "they are sort of like your horse I imagine, only ours is a bird with great, big feathers." Mareo's eyes glowed, "can they fly?" She laughed again, "no…they can't fly, they are too big." She turned her gaze from Mareo towards Juneo, "look, the city is coming into view!" Alena pointed, and he slowly walked to the railing, looking at the city perched on top of a mountain. Watching it get closer, Mareo stood in wonder, at the sight; there were two levels to the castle like city, built with giant bricks. "Attention passengers, we are now arriving at the lower section of Jeuno, please make sure to gather your belongings…" the low male voice came again from the voice tubes.


	9. Arrival

Arrival

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Making their way off the airship, Mareo looked all around, taking in the sight of Jeuno. "Mareo!" Alena shouted, waving her hand, calling his attention, he quickly joined her, "what do you think of Jeuno?" She asked, "Its cool…is the city in two layers?" Alena nodded, "yes, the city is made of the lower and the upper, its one of the center points of the three nations, acting as a bridge." "Wow…" Mareo gazed as they walked past the crowds of people going about their business. "Hey Alena, wait up!" He called to her, finding her stopped at the top of a set of stairs, he quickly joined her and they made their way up three more flights of stairs. Walking towards a massive cylinder, Alena spoke, "this is upper Jeuno, this is where all the wealthy and powerful live." From the crowds of the lower section, it seemed peaceful and somewhat regal with people wandering around in luxurious clothes.

Coming to the building, they let themselves in and came to a small desk with a young man behind the counter, "excuse me…" Alena interrupted the man, "we are looking for the Consulate of San d'Oria. Can you help us?" He nodded and pointed to his left, "yes, if you go straight down this hallway, it will be on your left." Alena thanked him and they wandered down the hall, "Alena…did you notice something odd about that guy?" Mareo asked, causing her to stop, "what do you mean?" "Well…" Mareo started, "he just seemed a little frigid…he didn't seem to move at all…" Alena looked down the hall past him to the man, and she shrugged her shoulders, "He seemed all right to me…" they again started down the hall when they saw San d'Oria's flag hanging from the ceiling, "looks like we are here…" she opened the door and let Mareo through first, finding chairs to his right, Alena pointed in a general direction, "take a seat Mareo…this might take a while, I've got to report to the Princes we have arrived." He nodded as she walked away, and slowly made his way to one of the chairs and sat down, looking around at the small room; he clasped his hands in front of him. "I wonder what's taking her so long…" Mareo said aloud, then he began to twiddle his thumbs.

Forever seemed to pass by when Alena finally came from Mareo's left, "sorry that took so long, come on, we have a chance to meet Kam 'lanaut, the Archduke of Jeuno; and we might get some information about the Abyss from him." Mareo got up from the chair and nodded, "great, he might even know about Heartless…" They made their way back out of the building, and ascended another flight of stairs to their right, finding a pair of guards who stopped them, "What business do you have at the Auroral Palace?" Alena looked over the two men and pulled out a sheet of paper, handing it to them, reading it over, they slowly moved out of the way, allowing them to pass. The duo made their way down the long pathway to a giant metal door, when they approached it, the door opened by itself. Mareo swallowed a lump in his throat, and followed behind Alena.

The only light in the room was two beams focused on two chairs; they cautiously made their way towards the chairs and took their seats, "Abyss." Was the first word they heard, looking around for the source, another light shone across a table, revealing a blonde haired man, wearing blue sashes around his body and a wide, red collar extending above this head, "this is what you have traveled to speak about right?" The man asked, stunning Mareo and Alena, "Every nation has this…" he took a moment to find the right word, "problem, you should concern yourselves with those instead." Mareo got up from the chair, "its not just Abyss…" he said and held out his right hand, and the Keyblade appeared, causing the man to widen his eyes as he looked over the weapon, "ah…" was all the man said, and closed his eyes, "just…who exactly are you?" Alena said, leaning forward in her chair, the man flicked away a blonde lock and said, "I am the one you seek, Kam 'lanaut. If I am not mistaken…" Kam started, "that is the ancient weapon capable of undoing any seal correct?" he asked, pointing to the Keyblade, and Mareo slowly nodded his head, "Yea… Oh!" Mareo started, "What do you know about Heartless?"

This caused Kam 'lanaut to rise out of his seat and towards the darkness, pulling back a curtain, allowing the light to fill the room. "All we understand at this point is that they do not have hearts of their own, yet seek them. We theorize they emerge from the Abyss, but we know nothing else other than that." Alena got out of her chair, "what about the Beastmen…could they have…" she started, but was cut off, "no…the Beastmen do not posses the power to summon such beings…but perhaps this is a sign…" Alena was confused, "a sign?" Kam turned back to the pair, "yes…the ancient god of Twilight, Promathia is said to sleep in the center of our world, causing Abyss to pour from this very being…he could easily summon those creatures…" Mareo's eyes narrowed, "all right…how do we get to Promathia?" Kam 'lanaut was taken back, "you wish to face a god?" He nodded his head, "god or not, I'll try." Alena looked over Mareo then took a step beside Mareo; "I will come along with you, since you don't know your way around."

Looking over the pair, Kam nodded his head, "very well. I will aid you on your quest. There is rumored that a city of Goblins resides under the ground, constantly moving, I can give its last known location." He reached inside his robes and pulled out a single sheet of paper, sliding it across the table. Alena grabbed the paper and looked it over, the directions pointed south, "thank you Kam 'lanaut, Archduke of Jeuno." Alena gave a bow, and tapped Mareo's shoulder to do the same and they left without another word.


	10. Departure

Departure

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"so…" Mareo started, "that was the guy we needed to see…but he just sent us away with a sheet of paper…" he said looking back to the door, but was smacked on the head by Alena, "he gave us a lot more than a mere sheet of paper, it's a map of where the goblin city has traveled." "Oooh…" Mareo said, looking at the paper, seeing three landmasses with Jeuno connecting them. Using red ink, a curving, swirling line sprawled across the map, Alena put her hand on one of the markers, "see look, its passed under Jeuno, and it goes down to Bastok and then to San d'Oria." Mareo nodded his head, and also planted a finger on the paper, "and it looks like it goes over here…Windurst? Where, or what is that?" He turned to Alena. "The Federation of Windurst is where most of the Mithra and Tarutaru live. They were the first to develop Magic." Walking down the stairs towards the busy lower section, they made their way back to port Jeuno. They stopped when they heard the guard's voice, "Where are your tickets?" Alena turned back to him, "tickets?" she asked, and walked back to him, "we are on official San d'Orian business…" The guard shook his head, "the request from the princes was only travel to Jeuno, not any where else." Mareo walked beside Alena, "what's going on Alena?" he said, looking at the guard then back to her, but she stormed off.

Running to catch up to her, he found Alena sitting on a bench, hunched over. "Alena?" Mareo asked, but she didn't respond and he slowly sat down, "what's wrong?" he asked, trying to get a response from her, and she lifted her head and looked to him, "well. I have no funds to purchase tickets for both of us, and only I would be able to get on." Mareo sighed and looked off to the horizon, seeing they sky and ocean meld together then he had in idea, "wait. What about those Chocobo things?" Alena looked to him with a smile on her face, "I totally forgot about Chocobos!" she shouted, jumping to her feet and Mareo chased after her, trying to follow her through the hordes of people wandering around the city. Rushing down a set of stairs, he found the rest of the city sprawled out in front of him, a clear alleyway to the rest of the outside world, lined with shops. "ALENA!" Mareo shouted, trying to find her, and he saw someone stop momentarily, and look for the source and saw him, and she waved her hand, _"how…How is she so quick?"_ he thought to himself as he ran down the steps towards her.

Finally catching up to Alena, Mareo slumped over, catching his breath, "Mareo! You're a genius! We can ride the Chocobos to Bastok." She said with glee and turned back to the counter, finishing the transaction. Within moments, a man followed by two massive, yellow-feathered birds came from the side of the building. "Are…" Mareo started, "yes, these are Chocobos, don't worry, they only eat vegetables." He walked up to the one on the left and cautiously put his hand on its beak, rubbing it slightly, suddenly the creature gave a loud Kweh sound in response. "it looks seems that one likes you…" the man said to Mareo who simply nodded, "yea, they are really cool…" With that, the man disappeared, shortly returning with two saddles, and began on place them on the Chocobos. Alena had already climbed onto the bird and waited for Mareo to do the same, he stopped rubbing its beak and climbed onto the back of the bird, "Thank you." Alena said nodding, and she began to leave, "Uh…Alena?" Mareo shouted, "how do I make him go?" She reared her head back in laughter, "they are like the horses from your world, just give them a light kick and they will walk in the direction you want to go."

With a little kick, the bird started trotting and he caught up with Alena, who nodded, "all right. You ready to go?" Mareo smiled and nodded, causing her to put pressure on the bird with her foot and they raced out of the city. "Wow! This is awesome!" Mareo shouted into the wind, feeling it rush past his hair, taking in all the sights whizzing past him, the large plants with white buds. "Alena!" Mareo shouted, "What were those?" She turned back to him, "its cotton, these are the Rolanberry Fields, although most of it is in control of the Beastmen…" They continued to ride on, passing through the fields, when the ground became slowly wet and soggy. "Where are we?" Mareo asked, looking around, "these are the Pashhow Marshes, all kinds of monster live here…I hope we can leave here soon…" she let her voice trail in the wind, and they made their way around the maze of the marsh, dodging monsters, and jumping from the occasional swamp bubble that would pop. Finally crossing the marshland, their Chocobos suddenly stopped, "What…what's with them?" Mareo asked, and Alena got off of the bird, "Chocobos are animals, they get tired too… and when they are tired, they go back home." "Oh." He responded and climbed off the Chocobo who gave a loud Kweh and began sprinting back towards Jeuno.


	11. Onward to Bastok

Onward to Bastok

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Watching the Chocobo leave, Alena turned to Mareo, "we have to go the rest of the way by ourselves." Mareo nodded he started following her. After walking for a while, Mareo spoke up, "Uh…Alena?" She turned her head, "hm?" he swallowed a lump in his throat, "H-How can you disappear?" the question stopped her, and Alena turned to him, "that's because I am a Ninja." Mareo's mouth dropped open, "your…a Ninja!? That's cool!" Alena gave a slight laugh, "its not that special, when I was little, I was abandoned by my parents, left on the steps of Chateau d' Oraguille. It was Prince Pieuje who found me and then sent me to the Far East to train and have them raise me as their bodyguard." Mareo looked at Alena, "I…I had no idea…" She shook her head, "its all right, come on, we have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall."

Walking in silence, Mareo looked over to the mountainous horizon, _"I…I had no idea that Alena was abandoned by her parents…"_ Looking up at her, _"I can't even imagine how hard it must be to not even know who they are, much less what they look like…"_ However, Alena suddenly stopped with Mareo almost bumping into her, he walked around to her side, "Alena, what's--?" she quickly shushed him, listening intently, when a brilliant light shone in Mareo's hands, forming into the keyblade. He quickly looked over the ground to find six shadows moving swiftly across the ground and small Heartless formed from them. Alena turned to Mareo, "are you ready?" she asked, he responding with a quick nod and he charged towards the closest enemy.

Delivering two blows, the creature vanished in a puff of black smoke, while the ones on left and right inched forward, when suddenly the right Heartless leapt into the air. Mareo rolled under it, letting it land on the ground, he dealt two attacks, causing it to disappear, but a sharp pain came from his back, "AAH!" Mareo shouted, wincing in pain, he spun around with his Keyblade, destroying the Heartless behind him in one blow. Looking to Alena, she had defeated one of the Heartless when suddenly one of them jumped into the air, trying to catch her off guard, she simply smirked, and leapt into the air, matching the foe. Mareo's mouth dropped seeing what was happening before him, Alena was doing a flip in the air, bringing her right foot down on the helpless Heartless; causing it to plummet to the ground disappearing in a black haze.

Making her landing, Alena quickly rushed the last Heartless, thrusting her fist into its head, causing it to disappear, "how…" Mareo started, pointing to Alena, to the air, and back to her, "how do you jump so high?" She turned to him and pushed a few strands of hair behind her ears, "I just use my charka, I also received training to be a monk from the Prince himself." "Wait… So your both a ninja and a monk?" Mareo asked, and she nodded, "yes, I have the speed and techniques of a ninja along with the strength of a monk." They resumed their walk, past the large rolling hills and the massive windmills, and slowly the land formed into a canyon, Mareo looking at the various forms of life there, from the giant bees to the lizards that walked on two legs.

The terrain changed from the soft grass to sharp, misshapen rocks, making the journey longer, taking the time to try and passing through the canyon when they finally reached the exit, the landscape had not changed much. "Uh…Alena? How much longer until we reach Bastok?" Alena stopped and turned to him, "see that waterfall over there?" she asked, pointing her finger to it, "past that waterfall is Bastok." A smile broke across his face as they made their way across the barren land, only to find that the waterfall was much further away then Mareo thought. Finally coming close to the cascade of water, he realized there was a bridge spanning a deep canyon where the river ran to the ocean. Alena rested against the handrail, looking into the horizon, seeing the sunset, "we will not be able to reach Bastok tonight…we might as well spend the night here." Mareo also gazed into the horizon, "what about monsters other than Heartless?" he asked, "most of the enemies here are most active in the daytime, they sleep at night." She responded, and sat on the wooden bridge, with herself propped up on the railing, quickly falling asleep. Mareo sighed, "my first night away from everything I know…" he quietly slipped off his vest and crumpled it up, forming a makeshift pillow, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Hello everyone! Yes I realize its been a long time since any new stuff has been posted to here, but College and work have taken over my life. and also the fact that my computer is starting to hate me(random shutdowns, weird stuff) so. This is what I have done, its not nearly as much as I would want, but other things are calling, like Homework and other boring things. But! Rejoice because after three weeks or so, this Semester will be finished, and more chappies will be around the corner, but not for long after. I am deciding to take College full time and quit my job, resulting in even less time to work on fanfic stuff. Dont worry, I like writing and I will finish my stories, even if it kills me! Count on it! 


	12. Republic of Bastok

The Republic of Bastok

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Smelling something in his sleep, Mareo began to sniff the air, slowly opening his eyes, looking around for the aroma. "What…" he started, "what's that smell?" Sitting up, he scanned his right, then his left, and saw Alena standing by the cliff side, with a long wooden pole. "Oh! Mareo, your awake, good; I've just caught some fish for breakfast." Slowly getting to his feet, Mareo wandered towards her, crossing the rest of the bridge towards the small fire. Three fish were skewered on small sticks positioned above the fire. Rubbing his eyes from the smoke, Mareo sat down in front of the fire, and Alena joined him, "I know that on your world that you probably did not have fish for breakfast, but that is all that's out here." "Oh, no." he responded, shaking his hands, "its all right. I've never actually had fish before…"

Alena raised her eyebrows in surprise, "really?" then a smile, "good, because the fish here in Gustaberg are said to be some of the best in the world…" with that, she took one of the fish from the fire, pulled it off the stick and handed it to him, "here, go ahead just take a bite." Mareo didn't need much coaxing, he was hungry from yesterday's battle, taking the fish in his hands, and he brought it to his mouth and chomped down on the scales. Finding they were tough, he gnawed at them, but found it much easier to pull them off the scales with his teeth. "Wow…I've never seen anyone take all of the scales off in just one try…" Alena said, and took one of the fish and did the same.

Finally getting to the muscle, Mareo took a bite, expecting a bitter taste; he was excited to find that it was juicy and tender. "Hey…" he said, stopping for a moment, "they are really good." Alena simply smiled as they continued to eat the fish. When they were finished, Mareo got up from the ground and stretched his arms, one back behind his head, and then he looked to Alena, "so Bastok is just right here right?" he said, "yes," she said pointing to a high ridge, "Bastok is right on top of there, and the path…" moving her hands from the ridge to another path, "is right there." Mareo smiled, "all right. Lets go." He said, stooping giving Alena his hand, she took it and he pulled her up to her feet and they started walking. Coming to the pathway, they started their ascent into the top Mareo started to see the buildings rise over him, "is that Bastok?" he pointed to the city bustling with people and Alena nodded her head, they continued on, passing through the tall city wall, Mareo noticed that the majority of the people had some amount of sod on them, and he turned to Alena, "the Galka, large intelligent Beastmen helped us in the Great War, and now they work in the mines of Bastok, mining for precious metals and jewels." He looked from her and towards the rest of the city, "oh…that would explain why everyone is covered in sod…from the mining and stuff…" Alena nodded, and she continued walking, leaving Mareo to catch up.

Coming into the more populated area of Bastok, Mareo was amazed at the technology that surrounded him, plumes of black smoke rose from various pipes from different buildings. "Wow…I never thought this world would have anything like this…after what I've seen…" Mareo said to himself, Alena took a step forward, "Bastok has always been known for its technological advances, the Humes crafting machines and the Galka getting the supplies from the mines…" "Wait…" Mareo stopped her and walked in front of her, holding up his right hand, "what exactly is a hume?" Alena laughed hard, and after catching her breath, she pointed to Mareo, "you are a hume. Your human, and don't have long ears, or tails like the Mithra or Galka." Mareo stepped backwards and Alena continued walking, however seeing a familiar flag, she stopped and pointed to it, "Mareo, that is the consulate of San d'Oria, I have to check in with the Princes and let them know about what has happened." With that, they started walking towards the building, entering it, Alena told Mareo to wait in one of the chairs, and she walked to the front counter. "I am Alena, bodyguard to Prince Pieuje, I wish to speak to him." The Elvaan woman behind the counter nodded her head, got up from the desk and had Alena follow her.

Mareo watched Alena as the left the room, and the door was shut behind her, and he sighed, "all right…we are making some progress… We are closer to finding the Abyss…but there are not too many heartless here…the only ones I've ever seen are the ones that attacked the castle and the ones on the way here…" Speaking to himself aloud, he smacked his forehead, _"I should really stop talking to myself…"_ he thought to himself as he looked around the room, where various paintings of the city of San d'Oria hung on the walls. _"I wonder what Alena is talking about with the Prince…"_

* * *

Alena walked followed the woman, who stopped in front of a door and stepped to the right, and lifted her hands to the door, "Inside you will find a Linkshell that is for royalty only." Alena nodded, and the woman left, and she entered the room, finding a shell on a wooden table, with a chair, Alena shut the door behind her and sat down in the chair. "Prince Pieuje." She picked up the seashell and talked into it, waiting for a response, "Alena, please update me on the matter of the Key." the Prince's voice rang loud and clear, "Sir," she started, "the Key has shown no signs of being controlled by the Beastmen nor the God of Twilight." The room was silent for a moment, "has the Key engaged in any battles?"

She thought for a moment, "yes. There has been a single battle against the shadows that attacked the Chateau d'Oranguille." "And his performance?" the Prince asked, Alena shook her head, "his abilities are startling…for seemingly never handling a weapon, he has great potential." Silence filled the room again, "Prince…" Alena spoke up, "I have to admit…Spying on Mareo…I believe its wrong." "Alena. I realize your concern; however, if the Key were to fall into the wrong hands, they could spell the end of our, nay all worlds' end. We must make sure this does not happen. You know what you must do if it comes down to that."

Swallowing hard on the lump in her throat, Alena responded, "yes, Prince. I understand." With that, she set the seashell down, and started to walk out of the room, when she turned back to the Linkshell, _"I don't understand the Prince's logic…if Mareo was willing to risk his life for a stranger, then how could he fall to simple Beastmen?"_ she thought to herself as she left the room, wandering back to where Mareo was now sleeping on the chair. Alena smiled, seeing him slumped over the hand rest she gently pushed his shoulder, "Mareo…wake up, I'm back." Opening his eyes, it took a moment for him to adjust, "oh, Alena, are we ready to go?" he asked, getting to his feet.

* * *

ALL RIGHT! My finals are officaly OVER. So that means more updates! HURRAY! all is right in the world when I write. and this is a special treat, because on this day in history, your believed author was born 22 years ago! So its kinda my birthday present to myself the joy of writing along with all of you reading my stuff. I just wanna take a moment and thank everyone who is still reading, that, when you guys leave reviews good or bad, they really make a difference, and I read ALL of them. 


	13. Meeting the President

Meeting the President

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Alena nodded, "yes, I've taken care of what I needed to do here. Now we can meet the President and ask him for passage into the last place where the goblin city was." They left the consulate and wandered through the city towards the president's building. Finally coming to the door, Mareo grasped the handle and swung open the door, allowing Alena to enter first, and then entered, shutting the door behind him, "I presume you came to see the President." A female voice echoed throughout the hall way, they turned their heads to see who was speaking, and Alena took a step forward. "I am Alena, personal bodyguard to Prince Pieuje, with me is my companion Mareo." Her voice seemed to echo and a slight chuckle came over the room, "Pieuje? Of San d'Oria? What business do Elvaan have here?" the woman came from behind the left wall, "If you are to have any business with the President, it must be first passed through me."

The woman had black hair with a brown headband, and was equipped with full samurai armor, painted in red, and a long purple katana. Alena narrowed her gaze, "Ayame. I recognize that sword from anywhere." Ayame gave a grin, "Alena…you were always sharp as a tack…" Mareo quietly walked beside Alena whispering, "Alena…do you know her?" She gave a slight nod, "Yes. Ayame and I were in the same training grounds in the East. She excelled in swordplay, while I became a Ninja." He simply nodded his head and took two more steps past Alena, holding up his right hand, a beam of light shone, and when he grabbed it, it formed into a Keyblade, "we are here to see the President about the Abyss, and a way to the goblin city." Ayame took a step backwards, looking between Mareo and Alena; she slowly stepped out of the way.

Walking past her, they came to another set of doors, Alena opened it, inside the circular room was a desk, with various bookshelves and paintings hung on the wall. Moving inside the room, the door was slammed behind them, making Mareo jump, and after taking a closer look, there was a man hunched over the desk, apparently writing something, "please sit down. I heard everything that happened in the hallway." The man's voice rang in the small room, and the duo sat down in a pair of chairs in front of the desk. The man lifted his head from this desk, wearing a purple beret, lined with gold, his dull brown eyes seemed to gaze at the both of them; wearing a white, collared shirt with a red neckpiece. "I am Karst, President of Bastok. You have to excuse Iron Eater there, he is my personal bodyguard." Karst said, pointing behind them; showing the massive Galka, having black hair and a pair of black eyes with white colored skin. He wore blue armor with various designs embedded with gold, he towered over both Mareo and Alena. "Alena…" Mareo whispered, "is that a Galka?" She simply nodded.

"I understand that you are looking for the goblin city." Karst said, getting their attention, "yes sir, we have already spoken with Kam 'lanaut and he said that you would have the information we need." Alena spoke, handing him the map. Karst nodded, looking over the sheet of paper, he lifted his head, "Yes, Kam's information is correct, there is a secret entrance to the Goblin city, however; its guarded by patrol day and night, it will be very hard to enter." "Well…how many are there? Could both of us get in there?" Mareo asked, pointing to himself and Alena, however Karst shook his head, "Goblin's hearing is extraordinary, they would hear you coming from a mile away…" Alena's eyes lit up, "I have some Ninjutsu tools that can reduce the noise that we make." Karst pointed to her, "that might be an idea, if you can use that to sneak past the patrols, then you can gain access into the city." Both of them nodded, and Karst grabbed a pen, and made a circle on their map, "I have marked the location of the last known location of the goblin city; but since they are constantly moving, I do not know if they are still there." Alena got up from her seat, "Thank you President, we will go and do this right now." With that, she started walking out the door; Mareo panicked for a moment, then got up, "Thanks a lot for your help." Mareo said, turning back to Karst as he left, chasing after Alena.

"Hey Alena!" Mareo shouted, getting her attention, finally catching up to her, "what do you think we should do? Wait until nightfall to go to the goblin city or wait until tomorrow?" Alena put a hand to her chin in thought, "I think we should go tonight, and use the darkness to our advantage." Mareo nodded his head, looking to the sun in the sky, "well…it looks like its about noon…what are we going to do until tonight?" She still had her hand at her chin, then shook her head, "I don't know…we should probably get some potions and antidotes for the trip." A smile came across her face, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a round, gold earring. Alena walked towards him, grabbed his right hand, and dropped the object into it; Mareo looked at her confused, "Uh…Alena? What's with the earring?" She chuckled, "Mareo, this is called a Linkpearl, it allows anyone who wears it to talk to another person." His eyes lit up like a child, "really?" She nodded, "this one is special, it lets us talk to each other, as if I were standing next to you, no matter how far apart we are." Mareo looked down at the earring, "All right, I don't really know how to put one of these things on…on my world, mostly girls wore earrings…"

She wandered to his right, and touched his earlobe, "All right Mareo, this might hurt a little, try not to jump…" He swallowed a lump in this throat, and feeling a sudden stab at this earlobe, it too every ounce of control not jump all over the place, "there. Its all done, all you have to do to talk to me is touch it." Alena said, touching the round portion, which began to faintly glow, and touched it again, turning it off. Mareo took a few steps away, turning back to Alena, "I want to see if this works," and turned back, touching the earring, "Alena…are you there?" he said to himself, "yes Mareo, I can hear you just fine." Alena's voice rang in loud and clear, "wow…we never had stuff like this on my world…" he said turning around, discovering Alena had disappeared, "Uh…Alena? Where did you go?" She giggled, "I'm just at the markets, buying potions; we are going to meet up tonight at the place where we entered Bastok all right?" Mareo nodded his head, "OK, I know where that is…but what do you want me to do?" Alena giggled again, "I don't know, explore Bastok, I might be a while I'm haggling people at the shops." With that, he couldn't hear Alena's voice again, turning off the Linkpearl, Mareo looked around at the town, "I wonder where I should go first?"


	14. One Whole Day

One Whole Day

A Kingdom Hearts fan fiction

By:

Chison

Mareo wandered to a nearby bench and sat down, putting his right leg over his left knee, "Great. A whole day to spend to myself…in a completely different world…" he watched the people scurry about with their chores and duties. "Alena is off at the markets…" he thought aloud, "and we wont leave until the sun goes down…" He yawned, shielding his mouth, he got up from the bench and began to wander through the town. Walking past various markets and the mineshafts ending the city, workers shuffled back and fourth between the mine and the buildings: suddenly something caught his ankles and Mareo fell face first to the cobblestone.

Putting his right arm under his chest, he started to pick himself up from the ground when he felt a strong tug at his shirt, and was picked up into the air. "You had better watch where you step Hume…" the deep voice of a Galka radiated behind Mareo and the beast man turned him around in his hand, lifting him to eyelevel. "I…I'm…" Mareo started, frightened that someone could pick up him up like a child's plaything, "I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going…" he said, trying to stay perfectly still, the Galka narrowed his eyes and let his grip loosen, letting Mareo fall to the ground, three feet below him. Watching as the massive Galka walked away, he noticed the long, thick tail protruding from the beast man, taking deep breathes, Mareo calmed himself down, "wow I had no idea that Galkas' were so strong" with that, he quickly found himself the shade of a large tree and planted his back and slid down to the ground.

_"there are so many things I don't understand about this world…_" Mareo thought as he closed his eyes, putting his head against the tree, opening them and looking up towards the branches, "well…at least the trees are the same…" he smiled to himself and closed his eyes again, "Alena will be waiting for me at dark…I should try and get some sleep now, rather than fighting to stay awake…" With that, he shifted his body into a more comfortable position and simply listened to the rustling of the tree branches above him.

* * *

"Yes, that will be 500 gil, miss." The young man behind the stand said as Alena fetched some money from her sack and handed it to him, and took her items. _"All right…I think I have enough for both of us tonight…"_ Alena thought to herself as she wandered the streets, watching the people go on with their lives. _"These people…They don't even realize the danger the Abyss presents…or the new creatures Mareo told us about…"_ She had made her way to a bench and sat down, looking over her items, Alena raised her gaze, looking to the buildings and the black plumes of smoke rising up into the air, _"Even if we do meet the God of Twilight…there will not be much chance that we will come out victorious…" _She got up from the bench and shook her head, "no…we have to prevail…because if we don't…" Alena whispered, "we are all doomed." with that, she started wandering through the city. 


	15. Under the Cover of Night

Under the Cover of Night

A Kingdom Hearts fan fiction

By:

Chison

"Mareo…" A female voice echoed in the distance, "Mareo, wake up!" Sitting straight up, Mareo rubbed his eyes and looked around, "oh…its you Alena…" he quickly got to his feet, Alena following suit, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, Mareo focused his eyes on Alena, "oh wow…I guess I was asleep quite a while…" Alena simply nodded her head, "This is our best chance to get into the goblin city. Lets go." and she started walking back towards the gate where they first entered Bastok. He quickly came to walk beside Alena, "Got everything you needed?" Mareo asked, she nodded with a smile, "yes, and I got to meet some of my friends who live here." Alena's smile was contagious and Mareo smiled too, "What were you dreaming about there?" she asked tilting her head back, referencing to the tree, however he gave a shrug, "I don't really know. I don't dream very often…But when I do…its always about my childhood." "Your childhood?" Alena questioned, and he nodded, "well…its hard to tell about it because its…" he stopped looking for the right words, "kind of personal. It hurts."

Passing under the archway in silence, they made their way into the rocky desert; using the light from the stars to guide them. However, Alena stopped, taking a few steps in front of Mareo and then slowly lowered her body to the ground. Waving her hand down, he did the same and crawled up beside her, "What's wrong Alena?" he asked, but was quickly shushed. "Mareo, goblins have incredible hearing remember? You've got to keep it quiet…" Mareo breathed an 'oh' and kept his voice down and Alena turned to her back, pulling out a small cylinder from her backpack. "Alena…what is that?" he whispered as softly as he could, and she smiled, "this is one of my Ninja tools. It allows us to move around without making a sound. Its well known that Goblins have horrible vision." Mareo's eyes grew as big as Alena began to chant several words and a strange, grey smoke started to pour from the cylinder.

It slowly found its way to Alena and Mareo, and began to cover their whole body, sinking through their clothes, going straight to their skin like a gentile mist. After the smoke disappeared, Alena got up from the ridge and started turned to Mareo, "all right, this wont last very long," she whispered, "we need to pass the three goblins guarding the entrance and make our way into their city." With that, Alena raced down the ridge in a blur, with Mareo trying to follow her. She quickly passed the guards and Mareo trailed behind her, tying to catch his breath from trying not to fall down the ridge and quickly followed Alena inside. Running into complete darkness, Mareo kept going, until after a few moments of running, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel and slowed to a jog, coming right beside Alena, who turned to him, nodding, "nice…I didn't think you could keep up with me…" It took a moment for Mareo to respond, "I guess the Keyblade was right to choose me…" From their vantage point, they saw the entire Goblin city.

The entire cavern was lit by torches; hammered directly into the wall with a massive tower of wood and metal twisted together, moving slowly to their right. Many goblins were wandering around on the catwalks they had made directly to the opposite ends of the cavern most were using pickaxes and chipping away at the rock, looking for precious metals or stones. "I've never seen anything like this…" Mareo whispered to Alena who simply nodded and looked to her left, and her mouth fell open. "Uh, Alena?" he asked, waving his hand in front of her face, she simply grabbed it and pointed it in the direction she was looking; there was a massive hole in the caver, that was filled with darkness. "No way…" Mareo started, taking a few steps forward, then turning back to Alena, "they dug their way here?" All she could do was nod her head when a small sizzling sound emitted from both Mareo and Alena. He looked around, "What's that sound?" Alena's eyes when wide when the grey smoke evaporated from their body, forming a sphere and raised up into the cavern. "Mareo." she said, walking up to Mareo, "my Ninja tool is done, we are sitting ducks here…" Panic washed over Mareo, "well what are going to do? We cant exactly go out the same way we came in…"

* * *

AHHA! I am over my infamous Writers Block! Booyeah! Expect more frequent updates since my Finals are right around the corner and life is going to be back on track pretty soon! Thank you everyone for sticking with this story for so long! Bows deeply 


	16. Into the Goblin's Den

Into the Goblin's Den

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

"Well…" Alena said looking to her left, then right, "we can't stay here…" a small army of goblins had assembled on the catwalks, blocking their exits. The goblins wore leather masks, with small glass eyes pieces and several holes around their mouth. Alena leaned closer to Mareo, "follow my lead," she took a step forward; arms outstretched "we mean you no harm!" Mareo rushed toward Alena, "what are you doing?" She turned to him, flipping her arms to her side, "there is no way we can battle an army of goblins…" The army looked at each other and started to mumble in a language the duo had never heard before.

Mareo walked to his right and began pantomiming with his hands, "We…Are…Looking…For…The…Abyss…" with the word Abyss; they all stopped and stared at Mareo. He turned to Alena, "was it something I said?" slowly the goblins made a path and a lone goblin approached, having white hair. "Why do you seek Abyss?" the old goblin asked, surprising both Mareo and Alena, "you…" Alena started, "can speak our language?" He simply nodded and repeated his question, causing Mareo to walk forward, "we are looking for a way to stop the Abyss and find Promathia."

The old goblin's eyes widened, "why do you seek Promathia?" Mareo's eyes flashed with determination, "to stop him from destroying this world using Heartless." The elder raised a brow, "Heartless? Oh, the dark beings…" Alena took a step forward, what do you know about the Heartless?" The old goblin turned to her, with a smirk on his face, "we know many things about them, but we only share information for something valuable in return…" Mareo walked to Alena, "do we have anything valuable?" she turned to him with a twinkle in her eye, "do you have any money form your world?"

He patted down his pockets and heard a familiar jingle and dug his hand into his right pant pocket; pulling out pennies, dimes quarters and the gold-colored dollar coins. Mareo placed the change into Alena's hand and she presented them to the elder, he picked up some of the change and nodded, "your strange coins are sufficient." With that, he raised a hand and the goblins made a path and they followed him. "These, Heartless you call them, are amazing creatures." Alena arched her right eyebrow, "what do you mean?" The elder stopped and turned around, "they do not feel anything, nor do they have blood to bleed."

Mareo and Alena looked at each other and said, "we know, simultaneously. This surprised the elder, "how…how did you know that?" he asked, looking back and forth, Alena spoke first, "I knew they didn't have blood when I first fought them. They simply disappeared in a black puff of smoke." Mareo nodded, "yea, they are only manifestations of darkness…it would be weird if they had blood…" The elder put a hand to his chin, rubbing it back and forth, "manifestations of darkness?" Mareo nodded again, "yes. Heartless are just beings who lost their heart to darkness…" Raising his left eyebrow, the elder said, "Promathia is the god of twilight…it would be easy for him to summon an army of these Heartless…" Alena moved in front of the goblin, snapping him out of his train of thought, "we need a way to find Promathia, we were hoping you could help us."

The elder gave a smile, "we know a path to reach the God of Twilight however," his smile turned into a grin, "we goblins are a race of merchants. We have something you want, and there is a price you must pay." Mareo's eyes narrowed, "how much? What's the price to know where Promathia is?"


	17. Never Deal with Goblins

Never Deal with Goblins

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

The old goblin smiled, "the information you seek is worth far more than strange coins." Alena turned to Mareo, but he turned away from her back to the elder, slowly raising his right hand, a beam of light shone, and solidified into the keyblade, scarring the other goblins as well as the elder. "you…posses the key…" Mareo nodded, setting it down in front of the goblin, "will that be enough for you?" Alena grabbed Mareo by the shoulder, quickly turning him around, "What are you doing?" she whispered, "trust me this is the only way to get the information we need…" Alena's angered expression disappeared when she saw a twinkle in Mareo's eye, "to give the key of worlds…you are true about your intentions…" The elder's voice echoed, "very well, I will tell you how to reach Promathia."

They gathered around the elder, who pointed up, towards the ceiling, "in order to find the way to Promathia, you must ascend to the highest point of Vana'diel…" Mareo held up his hands, "wait, wait…you mean to tell me that we got to the lowest part of this world and now we have to go the HIGHEST!?" The goblin looked at him and nodded, "yes, why do you think we are constantly moving? Its to keep from Promathia from unleashing his wrath upon us!" Regaining his composure, the elder resumed, "the place you seek is known as Hall of the Gods. There will be a way to meet Promathia from there…" "Hm….that sounds familiar somehow…" Alena spoke to herself, however as they made small talk, the elder slowly raised his left hand to a unseen lever just over his head, "now that we are all done here," he gave a smirk, "so are you." Giving the lever a hard pull, the floor under the duo gave way, and they started to fall into darkness…

Both of them gave a scream as they fell, _"I know this feeling…"_ Mareo thought, the wind whipping through his air, his clothes ruffling against his skin, he slowly closed his eyes, letting his body go limp and fall headfirst. "MAREO!" a voice echoed over the sound, his eyes flashed open, revealing Alena holding her hands out. "GO FOR THE TUNNELS!" she shouted and flew towards the closest one to her, and was sucked into it. Giving a loud yell, the force of the wind pushed him through the winding tunnel, faster and faster; when he found himself flung skyward, the sun shining in his eyes. Mareo reached the apex and started to fall to the ground, landing on his feet; but the force sending him head over heels and tumbling for another 10 feet. Opening his eyes, he saw Alena make a much more graceful descent, with her arms stretched out, she did several flips and landed solidly on her feet; after which she quickly found Mareo and grabbed him by the collar and used two hands to lift him in the air, "What are you thinking? Giving the key to the Goblins is like handing over the entire world!"

"Relax…I didn't give them anything." Mareo said with a smile, which confused Alena, "what do you mean?" She asked quizzically, "well…if you would put me down…then I will show you." He said with a smile and he was gently lowered to the ground and took a step backwards and held out his right hand. A flash of light shone in his right hand, and formed into the keyblade. "How…how did you do that?" Alena asked completely confused, "well…the keyblade is attached to my heart, and I cant summon it from anywhere, even if its left somewhere." A smile broke across her face and she reached out and patted him on the shoulder, "you had me worried for a moment…I guess you are full of surprises." Mareo nodded and looked around, "uh…exactly where are we?" Alena took a few steps past him and started to climb a small hill. He followed her, with his jaw dropping from the sight before him: a large mountain range, however the tips had been rounded off with trees in the ravines and the tops of the mountains reached into the clouds. "Come on, it looks like its going to rain her pretty quickly…" Alena said as she started to make her descent down the hill, "wait…how can you tell?" Mareo asked, following her down. She stopped, pointing to one of the mountains: a swirling mass of water was stationed on top of one them, "that's called a Water spirit, where ever it goes, it brings rain…" with that, a drop of rain fell onto her hand, she looked to the sky again, seeing the clouds had changed from a fluffy white to a menacing black color.


	18. Journey to Windurst Woods

Journey to Windurst Woods

A Kingdom Hearts fanfic

By:

Chison

Making their way up the mountain, Alena stopped on the tip, looking around when she pointed to something in the distance, "see those lights?" she shouted over the rain, causing Mareo to squint and use his right hand as a shield, "those?" He said, looking back at her, "those lights are the outskirts of Windurst." Mareo looked at Alena, "What's Windurst?" She turned back to him, "it's a city, and they will be able to take us out of this storm." Looking down to the valleys below them, they began to flood, taking various amounts of shrubs and trees with them. "It looks like we have no choice but to stay here until the rain stops…" Alena said, sitting on the ground, but Mareo stood, looking at the light. "Does it rain on your world?" Alena asked, looking up to him, he nodded, "yep, it rains a lot where I live…for almost half of the year…" This surprised Alena, "oh, I had no idea, there must be lots of Rain Spirits where you live…"

Mareo laughed, "Nope…We don't have any Spirits or anything like that…its just the weather." She looked off into the horizon, "do you miss your world?" Mareo sat down in front of her, and nodded, "yes…I miss my world but at the same time…" He looked away from her, "sometimes I don't really miss it at all…" He sighed, "There were lots of thing happening in my life…Things that don't seem to really matter now…" Alena leaned towards him, "like what?" Mareo turned to her, shrugging his shoulders,  
"Stuff with my family, a few years ago my father divorced my mother and was trying to make amends to the whole thing…" She shook her head, "…your father left your mother?" He put his head down low, but with that; the sun began to show through the clouds lighting the world around them. He suddenly got to his feet saying; "we should to get to Windurst…while its still nice…" With that, he started walking in the direction Alena pointed to earlier.

She stood watching Mareo make his way down the steep hill, _"I had no idea that his parents separated…" _Watching him jump from rock to rock, _"I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was…especially since I had no parents to call my own…"_ "Hey Alena!" Mareo shouted from down in the ravine, he made swung his right arm, "lets go!" Breaking her out of her train of thought, Alena suddenly jumped from the top and fell, landing a few feet away from him. They started walking towards the city, after walking for a about 30 minutes, "it seemed really close when we were up on the hill…" Mareo said to himself as he followed Alena, "Its really close…" Stopping, she pointed to a massive forest, "See all of that?" Mareo nodded, "That's Windurst." With that, a smile grew across Mareo's face and he started walking again. Coming into a small valley, with a few trees breaking the slope of the hill, they walked towards the forest. Starting through the forest, Alena suddenly slowed her pace, "Alena…what are you doing?" She looked around, then up to the trees where something large jumped from the branch, making it sway, littering leaves. "We are not alone here…"


	19. Meeting of the Mystic

"You are right..." A voice echoed through the forest, "you are not alone," with the last echo a tall figure fell from the trees, landing in front of Mareo and Alena; crouching the figure stood taller than Alena and had a swishing tail behind her, "Oh." Alena breathed a sigh of releif, "Its only the Star Onion Brigiade." Two other much shorter people with pointy ears appeared beside the Mithra, "Yeah we are the SOB, and we know what we can do and you'd better be afraid of us!"

The wind rushed through the dense forest, ruffling the leaves and clothes of the travelers as they stood at the standstill, "Alena...who are these guys? Do we need to fight them?" Mareo asked leaning close, "no, theyre always looking for a fight, they might even back down if..." Suddenly there were trumpts announcing the arrival of someone important, it seemed to echo through the forest and ring Mareos ears, the leader turned to the direction of the music, "Oh, what is the Star Sigil doing outside of Windurst! Shes not coming for us? Is she?" Using her cat-like reflexes picked up the two shorter people and dashed off into the woods, while the music grew louder and louder.

"Ah, there you are, just as I had prophecised." A small female voice echoed over the music, raising her right hand, "Please, come this way, I have lots to teach you Mareo, and Alena I understand you wish to communicate with your superiors?" They both starred at the shorter humanoid with longer-pointed ears, garbed in royal looking clothes with lining that shimmered even in the forest. They approached her and began to walk beside her, "are you the Star Sigil?" Mareo asked quietly, "yes I am, and I need to teach you to use magic right away so you can defend yourself." Alena shook his head, "hes quite capeable of defending himself, Star Sigil perhaps the only thing he really lacks is magic. I have seen him fight first hand and with some of those moves he impressed me." Mareo took a quick look at Alena, "Really? I impressed you?" She giggled, "only a little, but with the Star Sigil's help I bet you could even beat me one day."

They approached the city, with the royal music blaring full force, announcing the Star Sigil's return to Windurst, whoever saw her pass by fell to one knee and bowed their head. "They bow because I am their spritual leader and also the political persona between the rest of the nations." She answered Mareo's question before he could even open his mouth to speak, "Then have you seen the future?" He asked carefully, trying to read the Star Sigil's expression, "Only bits and pieces, some within the present, all of the past and glimpses of the future. I know they ancient Key chose you for a reason, and what Ive seen of the past, it never makes a wrong decision." Mareo exhaled a deep breath, and they contiuned to march on into the castle.

It was like a medivel castle of old: large towers reaching the sky with a moat of water surrounding the premies. "Alena, you can make your way to your chambers, straight down this hall and it will be the first door on your left" the Star Sigil pointed, and quickly two Windurst guards came to Alena's side to escort her down the hall and disappeared. "This is where we are going to train," The Star Sigil said, continuing to walk ahead of Mareo to a round, open room with a massive star-pattern on the floor made of brilliant, shining stone. Mareo took a deep breath, "The world where I came from had no magic whatsoever, and Im not sure if we ever had it..." His voice trailed off, shrugging her shoulders the Star Sigil responded, "thats nonsense, if you live and breath you have magic flowing through you; weither or not you are aware of it is a different matter. This pattern on the floor is designed to help bring your magical powers to the forefront of your mind. Lets start with a basic spell..." She lifted her right hand and it began to glow, starting from her elbow and gathering in her hand when it seemed to lift from her hand and mold itself into a small ball of fire.

Mareo's jaw dropped. "Now its your turn, feel the power flowing inside you and bring it out, take that fire that makes you who you are and bring it out..." Her voice trailed as Mareo closed his eyes, trying to find the fire she was talking about, he started to grow much warmer, and sweat started to form on his forehead, trying harder, it began to trickle down his face and drip from his nose. "Enough." the Star Sigil's voice echoed through the large room, his eyes shot open, realizing he was breathing hard he focused on the Star Sigil, "whats wrong?" She shook her head as she crossed the distance between herself and Mareo, "you might have been right, youve been at that for over 20 minutes now, take a rest on the bench and we will try again when you get yourself under control..." she motioned and they both walked over and took a rest. "I might be able to do it with the Keyblade..." Mareo spoke to himself, "Oh? is that the name of the ancient Key? Its very fitting...Keyblade." the Star Sigil spoke to herself, Mareo got to his feet and walked to the center of the room again.

Holding out his right hand, he focused his mind and in a shaft of light, the Keyblade emerged and he held it in his hand for a moment and let it drop to his side. "Im ready to start again Star Sigil," he called to her and she return to her spot. "Now...lets try this again, bring out that fire..." Mareo closed his eyes, concentrated and could feel a scorching heat coming from his core and rushing into this hands, he quickly opened them to see that the Keyblade had erupted in flames. "That is very impressive..." The Star Sigil said, slowly walking towards Mareo, "now can you do what I did and turn it into a sphere?" Mareo gripped the Keyblade in both hands and the flames slowly gathered into a central point at the end of the weapon, which then jumped into thin air and formed into a sphere. "I can sense the Keyblade bringing out the magical power inside of you, and you cant use too much of your magic; you will get tired very quickly and run out of energry." She gestured to the Keybalde, "may I?" Mareo looked once to her, then back to the weapon, "Sure, I dont see why not..." he said, handing the weapon over to her.

The Star Sigil wrapped her small hand around the hilt and her eyes shone with a brilliant white light, her hair began floating and she started to lift off the ground for a short time, then the weapon disappeared with a flicker of light and appeared in Mareo's hands again. "The Keyblade tried to show me the past, but it was too much; I was getting lost in the span of time, until it knew it was in the wrong hands and returned to you." She turned away, "that weapon is the single most powerful weapon I have ever felt: past, present or future and you are its keeper." the Star Sigil turned back to Mareo looking him deep in the eyes, "You are the master of the Keyblade and no one else. Not even your doppleganger can control it."


End file.
